Hurricane Watch - DK2

by Melissa Good

  the guard answered.

  Dar shrugged, and flipped the devices on, then counted under her breath to ten. On six, both pagers went off, and both phones started beeping, indicating voice mail.

  The guard backed away from the desk, with a frightened look.

  ”I told you,” Dar sighed, picking up her pager, and glancing at it.

  ”Damn it, there must be three dozen pages on this stupid thing.”

  ”Yikes.” Kerry picked hers up, and pressed the button. ”Oh, gee, I’m glad I’m just your assistant. I’ve only got two dozen.” She shook her head. ”I mean, didn’t they figure out we were together?” She glanced up at the guard, who had been joined by two others. ”We’ve been on vacation for two days,” she explained. ”Our office tends to freak out.”

  Dar was muttering, and cursing under her breath as she reviewed her pages, then she looked up at the silent guards. ”Oh, for god’s sake, they’re pagers, not grenades.” She tugged her identification out of a pocket of her laptop and tossed it over to them. ”There.” She tugged her jacket back on, and shoved her phone in the pocket, then took her ID

  back. ”Excuse me.” She started down towards the gate, still muttering.

  Kerry found herself facing them. ”Um, it’s been a long week,” she explained, zipping up her laptop and shouldering it. ”May I?” She held out her hand, and was given back her pager. ”Thanks. Have a great day.”She walked off, resisting the urge to look back over her shoulder, and hurried to catch up with Dar. ”Hey, wait up.”

  The long strides shortened and slowed, and Dar glanced at her as she came along side. ”Idiots.”

  ”C’mon, Dar, they’re just doing their job,” Kerry admonished her.

  ”It’s for everyone’s safety.”

  Dar held up her pager. ”I meant this. I got pages from half the office. Duks, Mari, what the hell did they all want, a personal explanation of what happened?”

  She tossed it up, then caught it and stuffed it in a pocket again.

  ”There’s the gate. You want to keep hold of these?” She indicated the laptop. ”I’ll go get some coffee.” She settled Kerry in a padded seat 268

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  near the gate window, then put down her laptop. ”Be right back.”

  ”Grab a paper, too,” Kerry requested, as she leaned back and watched her companion walk off. A grin wound its way onto her face as she enjoyed the little rhythm in Dar’s walk, too slight to be a swagger, but definite nonetheless. She was wearing a pair of worn, black stone washed jeans with her high top sneakers, and Kerry found herself wishing the company would allow casual dress in the office.

  Not that Dar didn’t look good in a business suit, oh no, she certainly did, Kerry reflected. But she got the feeling Dar was most comfortable just like she was right now.

  And so are you, wise guy. Kerry stretched out her feet and crossed her ankles, regarding her tan hiking boots wryly. She had her most comfortable pair of really nice, faded, soft jeans on, almost white from washing, with spots a little worn around her knees, and brass buttons with the letters rubbed right off them.

  Her thick, warm flannel shirt was tucked in neatly, and she folded her arms across her chest, letting her head lean back against the chilly glass of the window.

  It had been a good weekend, she decided. Despite the bumps, and the little moments of doubt, it still had brought them closer together, and put some truths on the table. They’d come out of it rested and pretty much relaxed, and, Kerry wiggled her fingers and regarded the ring on her hand. ”And pretty much committed to each other, I think.”

  She took a moment out and allowed the joy she was feeling to bubble up, making her skin tingle.

  ”Kerry?” Dar’s hesitant voice broke her out of her dreamy state.

  ”Uh, sorry.” She pushed herself upright and took the cup her lover was holding out. ”I was just thinking.”

  ”Uh huh.” Dar dropped down in the chair next to her. ”I’m not going to ask about what, but based on that look you had, I hope it wasn’t the coffee.” She handed her the requested paper. ”Here, it’s tomorrow’s edition of USA Today.”

  Kerry took it, and laid it down in her lap, then gave Dar a look over the rim of her cup. ”It wasn’t the coffee,” she admitted, taking a sip. ”I have this little ball of happy inside me, and I was just playing with it.”

  Dar bit down on her cup edge, and her eyelashes fluttered in surprise. ”That’s an interesting way to put that,” she chuckled. ”Very poetic.”

  Green eyes twinkled gently. ”I said you bring that out in me, didn’t I?” Her companion grinned frankly. ”Funny. Why do I bring out the worst in everyone except for you?” She leaned on the chair arm and pressed her shoulder against Kerry's, glancing down at the paper.

  ”Anything interesting?”

  Kerry flipped through the pages as Dar relaxed, closing her eyes and taking slow, idle sips of her coffee.

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  ”Hey Dar?”

  ”Mm?”

  ”What’s a CIO?”

  Dar regarded the popcorn ceiling reflectively. ”Chief Information Officer; it’s a person who sits on the board of directors of a company, charts strategy for IS, sets policy, that kind of thing.” She sucked down a mouthful of the mocha. ”Why?”

  ”We didn’t have one of those,” Kerry remarked.

  ”Nope. Alastair has been waffling on that for two years, since the last guy threw up his hands in disgust and walked off. He’s got to give up control for that, and he just can’t stand it.” Dar crossed her ankles.

  ”It’s worked for me, because it takes out a layer of pretty useless management between us.”

  ”Mm.” Kerry slid closer, and put her arm around Dar’s shoulders, putting the paper in front of her half closed eyes. “We do have one now.”

  ”What’s that...” Dar’s brow scrunched. ”Oh shit, he finally found someone? Damn it. Who in the hell...why didn’t he say something?”

  Her eyes flicked to the page, and took in the headlines, scanning them impatiently. “Who is it?”

  ”You.”

  Dar went absolutely still, her eyes wide and staring for a long moment, before she shot upright, and grabbed the paper, bending her head to read the text. Her jaw dropped open, and she took in and released several breaths before any intelligible words came out. ”That son of a bitch. I’m gonna kill him,” she managed to squeak out.

  ”Dar, honey, the usual response to a promotion is ‘thank you’, isn’t it?” Kerry murmured, rubbing her back soothingly. ”Not ‘you son of a bitch, I'm going to kill you.’” She watched Dar’s nostrils flare, and her jaw muscles work. ”Hey?”

  Blue eyes pivoted and met hers. ”He’s toast.”

  Kerry touched her cheek. “Why? If anyone in the world deserves that, it’s you, Dar. We both know it.” She rubbed the soft skin gently.

  ”Why are you so upset?”

  ”He promised me nothing would change,” Dar snarled. ”Bastard.”

  ”Dar...” Kerry leaned closer, catching her eyes. ”Weren’t you just telling me this morning you didn’t want to go back to the same old thing? This gives you a chance to change things, doesn’t it? It makes you rank higher than everyone else?”

  The long hands gripped the chair arms with convulsive strength, as Dar’s gaze turned inward, thinking. Finally her body relaxed, and she took a deep breath, returning her eyes to Kerry’s face. ”If he thinks I’m moving to Texas, he’s got a surprise coming.”

  Kerry felt the tension drain from her. ”I’m willing to bet you won’t even have to change offices, Dar. He just saw a way to fix a problem, and you were it.” She gave her lover a smile. ”He put you in charge of 270

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  everything, and everybody, didn’t he?”

  The pale blue eyes blinked, considering.

  ”I just wonder why he didn’t do it before,” Kerry sighed.

  Slowly, a grin started to twitch Dar’s l
ips. ”He knew he never had anyone who could step into my Ops job before,” She drawled softly, putting a finger on the very tip of Kerry's nose.

  ”Oh no, no. I’m not...um...” Kerry held up a hand. ”No Dar, I’ve only been here for a few months. No, I— No, Dar, no. Stop looking at me like that.”

  A dark brow lifted in question.

  ”Dar, don’t be silly. I can’t do your job,” Kerry wailed softly.

  ”No.” Now Dar’s gaze was sharp, and appraising, and reminded Kerry very much of the cool judging she’d received on that very first day. ”You can’t do what I did the way I did it, but I bet you could find a way to do it your way.”

  ”I can’t.”

  ”Then I can’t accept this,” Dar stated quietly. ”Because you’re the only one I trust to replace me.”

  Kerry felt breathless. ”Dar, that’s not fair.”

  ”No, it’s not.” Her lover replied. ”Life sometimes isn’t.”

  They looked at each other in silence. Dar sighed. ”At least think about it,” she asked quietly. ”Please?”

  Kerry glanced down at her boots, kicking the carpet a little, then she looked up.” All right, I’ll think about it.” She nibbled her lower lip.

  ”Give me a day or so, huh?”

  Dar looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded. ”Sure, take your time.” She settled back in her chair and shook her head. ”I’m gonna kill him.”

  Kerry poked her lip out. ”So am I,” she muttered.

  Slowly, they turned, and regarded each other seriously. Then Dar started to laugh, and after a moment, Kerry joined her. They wound down, then started up again, until Kerry just buried her face in Dar’s shoulder, and curled a hand around her arm, helpless with giggles.

  ”I got an idea.” Dar pulled her sneakered feet up and tucked an arm around her knees. ”Why don’t we change our tickets, and go to Houston, and show up at his house with rubber hatchets?”

  Kerry peered up at her. ”You really are a brat, aren't you?” She laughed.

  A wicked, sexy smile answered her. ”You bring that out in me,”

  Dar told her, shaking a long finger at her. She looked up as the boarding agent was clearing her throat, and picking up her microphone. ”Ah, looks like it’s time to go.”

  Kerry finished off her coffee and stood, flexing her arms and wincing as her shoulder popped into place. ”Ow.” She reached down for her laptop, but found it taken from her fingers, and a warm hand touching her back. ”Dar, I can carry my own bag.”

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  ”Yes, I know,” Dar told her, lowering her voice. ”But it’s my privilege to do it for you.”

  ”Ah. I see,” Kerry mused, allowing herself to be gently steered towards the airplane ramp. ”Privilege,” she murmured very softly, almost under her breath, as she handed over her boarding pass to the smiling agent. ”Thank you.”

  She took back her stub, and entered the long boarding tunnel, along with a straggling of the few other passengers on the evening flight. She slid in to the window seat in the first row of the airplane, and watched as Dar put their bags in the overhead bin, then sat down next to her, letting her hands rest on her thighs.

  ”Be glad to get home,” Dar sighed.

  ”How’s your knee doing?” Kerry asked, as she leaned on the console between them. ”I noticed you weren’t limping anymore.”

  Dar nodded a little. ”Fine, it doesn’t hurt. It was a little bit stiff this morning, but it feels great now.” She gazed at the joint, hidden under stonewashed fabric. ”Find out tomorrow when I run on it, I guess.”

  A blonde brow lifted at her. ”And if it hurts?” She knew better than to argue about the running.

  Dar took a breath to answer, then found intense green eyes watching her. ”I can worry about myself, you know.”

  A smile. ”I know.” Kerry wrinkled her nose. ”But it’s my privilege to do it, too,” she told her lover. ”It works both ways, Dar. We’re responsible for each other, okay?”

  ”Okay.” Dar snuggled back in the leather seat, and accepted a glass of wine from the steward, passing it to Kerry then taking one for herself.

  She took a sip and rolled it around her mouth a few times before she swallowed it.

  Someone else being responsible for her. What a weird thought. It’d been a very, very long time since anyone had wanted to do that.

  But you know, Dar considered it seriously. I think I like that idea.

  KERRY KEYED THE door open, and entered, smiling as she heard the raucous yipping from Chino’s room as she flipped the light on.

  ”Okay, honey, hang on.” She pushed the door back and let Dar move past her, then closed the door and plopped her laptop case down on the couch as Dar set the suitcases on the floor. ”I’ll go let her out, and I sure could use some coffee. You?”

  ”Uh huh,” Dar agreed, straightening. ”Damn weather, we must have circled over Tampa for an hour,” she complained, rubbing her neck. ”Thank god we had seats in the front.” She shouldered her laptop and moved into her office, turning on the light as she dropped the case on the desk. She moved around the other side, flipping her pc on and sitting down in the comfortable leather chair with a sigh. ”Let’s see, it’s nine o’clock, it’s Sunday, he’s home.” She cracked her knuckles, then 272

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  wiggled her fingers before she punched a phone number on her speaker phone.

  It rang once.

  Twice.

  A voice picked up. ”Hello?”

  Dar smiled, and steepled her fingers. ”Hi.”

  Momentary silence. ”Oh, oh, hello, Dar!” A pause. ”Heh heh, so how was your little vacation?”

  Dar let him wait a beat. ”It was great until I picked up a goddamned newspaper at the airport a few hours ago,” she growled intimidatingly. “And read my freaking name in it.”

  ”Now, Dar,” Alastair's voice turned soothing. ”Let me explain.”

  ”Explain?” Dar barked. ”No no. It was perfectly clear to me, in black and white, in fact with a goddamned picture the size of a watermelon on top of it!”

  ”Dar...Dar...now listen.” Alastair cleared his throat. ”I tried to call you. I tried to page you several times, but you never answered me.”

  ”I was on vacation,” Dar reminded him. ”You knew that.” She looked up as Kerry entered, carrying a steaming cup, and dressed in a soft, brief cotton t-shirt which just barely covered her thighs. She grinned at her lover, almost forgetting the man on the phone.

  ”All right, well...but I tried to get you, Dar. I had to make a decision, and you know, when I’ve got to do it, I’ve got to do it. I can’t just wait around for things to happen.” He cleared his throat. ”It was the right time. I needed something to boost things, and it worked!”

  ”What worked?” Dar asked, taking the cup with one hand, and tracing the soft curve of Kerry’s leg muscles with her other.

  ”Stock went up five damned dollars!” Alastair chortled. ”Now c’mon, you can’t be that mad at me,” he chided her. ”Good grief, Dar, you’d think I’d asked you to go off and become a missionary. It was a promotion, in case you hadn’t gotten that part down.”

  ”What if I don’t want it?” Dar asked, mildly. ”I’m not moving my ass to Houston, Alastair, so forget it. Find some other dog out there to wag their tail for you.”

  Silence.

  ”Alastair?”

  ”Hmm?? Oh, sorry, Dar. I was just contemplating the image of you wagging your tail at me,” the CEO remarked cheerfully. ”Hell, I’d move to Miami for that, never mind bringing you out here.”

  Dar sighed. ”Alastair...”

  ”I know, I know, EEOC, but listen, Dar I never considered you coming out here. I’ve got a nice, peaceful office. I don’t need Hurricane Dar coming in and blowing everyone through the windows out here.

  No, that’s not why I did it.” He paused. ”I just thought it would make things easier there. Some of the problem seems to be from the co
mmittee mentality. I just made you a committee of one.”

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  ”That’s a lot of added responsibility.” Dar slid her hand up a bit, twitching the edge of the t-shirt, and getting her hand slapped. She looked up at Kerry with a wicked grin.

  ”Well I gave you a raise with it.” Alastair sounded insulted. ”I mean, Jesus, Dar, give me a break, willya? I made the package with the works, even keys to the executive bathrooms.”

  ”In Houston,” Dar remarked dryly. ”Nifty, just what I needed Alastair. I don’t need more crap, all right? The money’s not the issue.”

  He sighed. ”I thought you’d be flattered.”

  ”Don’t whine,” Dar told him, testily. ”Maybe I just like to be asked first, before I have to read about it in the goddamned daily news!” She glanced up as Kerry unfolded the business section of the paper she’d picked up outside the condo. ”Oh shit.” She covered her eyes.

  ”It’s a nice picture of you,” Kerry remarked, diplomatically. ”I like your hair.”

  ”Is that Kerry?” Alastair asked, brightly. ”Hello there.”

  ”Hi, Mr. M... Alastair,” Kerry responded. ”There’s a big story on the front page of Business Monday in the Herald about Dar.” She patted her lover, who had covered her eyes, and was moaning on her shoulder.

  ”It looks great.”

  Alastair chuckled. ”Oh yeah, they called up here for copy and a photo. I think they gave them the one from that company picnic last year.” He cleared his throat. ”So, what about it, Dar? I’ll concede I should have asked you, but I really didn’t think you'd mind.”

  Dar sighed, and studied her hands. ”I need a few days to think about it, Alastair,” she told the CEO, her eyes meeting Kerry’s. ”I’ll let you know.”

  ”Dar, I hate waiting,” the CEO complained. ”Besides, what am I supposed to tell the board?”

  A soft chuckle, almost unheard. ”Tell them I said to kiss my ass,”

  Dar drawled in reply. ”I’ll let you know in a few days, Alastair.” She paused. ”Goodnight.” She hit the release, then took a sip of her coffee, regarding her computer screen in pensive silence. ”I wonder how much my raise was?”